THE CRAZY ONES (Episode 10) – The Adventures of Superwomen

“I do not read advertisments. I would spend all my time wanting things”
——- FRANZ KAFKA

Lauren (Amanda Setton) reveals the missing bra in a very Superwoman-like fashion

The Victoria Secret models in this episode that are not so much characters as props helping the show’s cast to make several interesting (and possibly unrelated) statements.

Rarely does any show admit to the cynical inclusion of lingerie models to distract the audience from the actual content. THE CRAZY ONES does just that (indirectly) when Gordon Lewis has Simon run a shoot with the models to keep him out of a pitch to some very conservative people who make “Old Fashioned” pies (Harold and Clyde played by Lex Medlin and Lance Barber). Gordon later admits to having used such distractions in the past to waylay Simon and keep him from offending such clients. Simon, he says, is easily distracted by “shiny objects”.

The distractions (models) arrive led by Marvin (Lavell Crawford), a large person entrusted with guarding a jewel-encrusted bra which is to be worn by Adriana Lima at the shoot. Long story short, Lauren (Amanda Setton) has been dreaming about wearing that bra (like forever) and can’t resist putting it on when the opportunity presents itself. Once she does that, she can’t get it off. She reveals the problem to Andrew and Zach with a Superwoman-like opening of her shirt.

Adriana Lima finally gets to do the photoshoot

Superwoman has never been portrayed on film (other than in animated form). SUPERGIRL came close in 1984. Amanda Setton would make a good Superwoman.

BEST GELLAR MOMENT – Sydney (Sarah Michelle Gellar) prepares to tap Lauren’s breast with a pen as she searches for the missing bra. That’s Marvin (Lavell Crawford) in the middle background.

Zach decides that the reason he can’t get the thing off Lauren is that he can only “pop off bras” while making out. So naturally the two of them do that, and the garment is successfully removed. It has been established (in the pilot) that Zach and Lauren have already slept together, so this is nothing new for them, although Andrew has to remind them at one point to “remember the bra”.

THE KISS

In order to get the pie account, Gordon pretends that he is not gay. Simon gives him a lecture about honesty in a bathroom stall. It sinks in, and Lewis tells the clients he is gay and apologizes to Simon (and his partner Timothy, who is talking to Simon on the phone) in front of them. We have not yet seen Timothy, but he tells Simon to give Gordon a kiss for him.

The kiss that Simon gives Gordon is one of the nicer things that has been on television this year. Williams is 62 and Garrett is 53 and to see them kiss is just very unusual for prime time American TV. After the kiss, Gordon gives Simon a surprised and interested look. Is an affair in the offing? Will we ever get to meet Timothy?

Lance Barber and Lex Martin as two conservative piemakers from the midwest

Lauren and Zach make out to help Zach remember how to ‘pop off a bra’.

WHAT WE LEARN ABOUT SYDNEY

Sydney is left in charge of the Victoria Secret shoot while all this is going on, and she needs to keep the models from walking out because of the delays caused by Lauren. We find out that the models have a book club and are currently reading Kafka, whose works Sydney has not read. We also find out that Sydney was on her high school debating team, and, because of the importance she attaches to that, we might deduce that she has never been to university.

The bejeweled bosom of Amanda Setton and the Robin Williams/Brad Garrett kiss are distractions that kept me from examining the big question. Are models, even those who read Kafka, easily distracted by magic, as shown in this episode? I was prepared to be nit-picky about the show’s treatment of models as though they had evolved on a completely different planet, but then I watched the show that followed THE CRAZY ONES. I doubt that CBS did this consciously, but TWO AND A HALF MEN ran an episode in which a model was depicted as being a typical member of her profession and so stupid that her survival to adulthood must have been pure dumb luck.

NOTES

P.J. Ochlan (center) in the play American Misfits at the Boston Court theater in Pasadena – Spring 2013

P.J. Ochlan (Maitre D) will play an emcee in the Four Seasons biopic JERSEY BOYS, directed by Clint Eastwood, and due to be released 20 June 2014.

Lavell Crawford (Marvin) will be Tiko in the film 4PLAY, about a successful but bored man named Todd who decides to date three women simultaneously.

Lex Medlin (Harold) is Owen French in the Lifetime series DROP DEAD DIVA (which is about a model who is reincarnated as an overweight lawyer). Harold’s fellow piemaker Clyde is played by Lance Barber, who is also Bill Ponderosa on the FX series IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA.